Gates arrived in Ankara Wednesday night in hopes of obtaining a Turkish military withdrawal in a timeframe he described as no more than "a week or two."

"A short time is a relative term. Sometimes this can mean one day and sometimes one year," NTV quoted Buyukanit as saying.

"We have been fighting terrorism for 24 years and our struggle will continue," Buyukanit said, adding that the United States has been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan "for years."

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and much of the international community, has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984.

Turkish forces stormed into neighbouring northern Iraq on February 21, pounding PKK hideouts with air and artillery fire and fighting the rebels on the ground.

Ankara says the rugged mountains of northern Iraq have become a safe haven and a training ground for the militants and a springboard for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.